Utah Travel Headlines

Monday, November 30, 2009

Moab Rock Art and Dinosaur Tracks

Rock Art along Hwy 279

Scenic Corona Arch

On Black Friday, my goal was to get as far away from the malls as possible and so I headed for Moab - to hunt for rock art and dinosaur tracks.

We enjoyed a great hike in mild sunshine. The weather nice. We wore light jackets early in the day but soon shed them. This is the perfect season to hike, bike, jeep and explore the southern Utah red rock country.

There are many rock art sites in the Moab area, some easy to find and some more challenging. We opted for easy on this trip, to accommodate guests who are not into long treks into rugged backcountry. We simply drove down Scenic Byway 129, stopping at pullouts and looking for art on the many vertical rock panels.

Many of the best sites are identified by road signs and so they are easy to find.

At one site, about 6 miles down the road, we found several panels interesting rock art and also some dinosaur footprint fossils, as you can see from the photos at right.

This particular site is adjacent to the Poison Spider Trailhead. If you look carefully, you can see some rock art from the trailhead. Hike to it and then follow that contour and you will come to more rock art, and also a beautiful, unmarked dinosaur track. Other dinosaur tracks are marked so they are more visible and are located on a contour a little lower down the cliff.

Continuing down the road, we did the short, moderate hike to Bowtie and Corona arches. These are very scenic formations along a well-marked trail.

Moab is a popular destination during the fall, but visitation is now starting to fall off. Many motels offer reduced rates for stays during the winter. Nights are getting chilly now but it is still pleasant to camp if you have good equipment.